IMF raises Israel growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund has revised Israel's 2018 GDP growth forecast upwards from 3.3% to 3.6%.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Israel's 2018 GDP growth forecast upwards from 3.3% to 3.6%. Since its last forecast in March, the IMF has also revised upwards Israel's expected inflation this year from 0.7% to 0.9%.

The IMF sees 3.5% growth in Israel in 2019, 3.3% in 2020 and 3% in 2021-2023. This is slightly lower than the IMF's forecast for world growth of about 3.6%-3.7% per year but considerably higher than growth in Western developed countries, which the IMF sees falling from 2.4% this year to 1.5% between 2021 and 2023. The rate of growth in the developing world will be an average of 4.6%-4.8% in the years to 2023.